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A tricksy, star-stuffed takedown of Fleet Street's worst practices

Shields Gazette

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September 27, 2025

As a journalist in the regional press, I always viewed the phone hacking scandal which engulfed Fleet Street a decade or so ago as reprehensible.

- Philip Cunnington on The Hack (ITV)

A tricksy, star-stuffed takedown of Fleet Street's worst practices

The standing of the profession in the eyes of the public was - and is - low enough anyway, without the illegal hacking of people's phones.

It's an attitude shared by Nick Davies (David Tennant) in The Hack (ITV, Weds, 9pm), ITV's retelling of how the scandal broke and the effects it had on the tabloid press - not least the fact that it caused the shuttering of the News of the World.

"These so-called journalists bring our whole industry into disrepute," he says at one point, and it's difficult to disagree.

He's depicted as a shining example of the crusading journalist, eager to go where the action is, dismissive of the latest clickbait-y listicle his editor at The Guardian, Alan Rusbridger (Toby Jones), says does well online.

He's also a good dad - on good terms with an expartner and giving out Aesoplike advice to his son about dung beetles.

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